God’s Strong-Man takes possession of His people.

 

Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  By his great mercy he gave us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  Amen.

Luke 11:21-22  ²¹“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe.  ²²But when someone stronger attacks him and defeats him, he takes away that man’s full armor, in which he had trusted, and divides up his plunder.” (EHV)

1 Peter 3:18-19  Christ also suffered once for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.  He was put to death in flesh but was made alive in spirit, ¹⁹in which he also went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison. (EHV)

God’s Strong-Man takes possession of His people.

Dear beloved of the living Lord,

            Jesus descended into hell.  That’s a shocking way to begin Easter morning, isn’t it?  Many people guess that Jesus descended into hell to suffer after He died on the cross that first Good Friday.  However, it was while He was on the cross that Jesus suffered the awful torment of hell when His Father separated Himself from Jesus.  That separation from God is truly the worst punishment of hell, and Jesus experienced that brutal isolation so that you and I won’t ever have to be without God’s love.  So, why do we confess that Jesus descended into hell early on Easter morning?

Our two texts this morning are among several that speak about Jesus’ course of action in His resurrection from the dead.  At some point Easter morning, before He revealed Himself alive and risen from the grave, Jesus descended into hell.  Peter reported that Jesus “was made alive in spirit, in which he also went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison.”  What is it that Jesus needed to announce?  For that answer, we return to Jesus’ mysterious prophecy reported in Luke’s Gospel.

One time, when Jesus had cast out a demon, His enemies said, “He drives out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” (Luke 11:15)  In retrospect, their accusation was serious blasphemy, but Jesus replied to their lie by foretelling how His victory over Satan and death would conclude.  Jesus responded to their accusation with this parable: “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe.  But when someone stronger attacks him and defeats him, he takes away that man’s full armor, in which he had trusted, and divides up his plunder.”

Throughout most of history, the devil seemed to be the strong man in the world.  With treacherous lies, he deceived Adam and Eve into abandoning holiness for the knowledge of evil.  Ever after, Satan’s temptations and lies kept mankind separated from God.  The covetousness, jealousy, and hatred the devil induces causes unlimited suffering and sorrow in the world.  Still today, we see vast numbers of people deceived into believing that wealth can be stolen for society’s welfare.  The devil still pits husbands and wives against each other, and children against their parents.  Nations are continually caught up in power struggles and the same can be said about politicians in almost every place, and no matter how much wealth or power people possess, they always seem to need a little more.

You and I were not spared of this wickedness.  We, too, have been selfish, lustful, covetous, and sometimes deceitful.  We too have often been misled by feelings rather than hold to God’s Word with unwavering confidence.  We too were caught in the slavery to sin and death.  Yet, there is One who was always able to resist those weakness and faults.  Jesus was the only perfect Man ever to live, and the world turned against that humble, self-sacrificing soul.

Of course, God the Father knew that would happen.  Jesus knew it too.  Indeed, that is why Jesus entered our world, so that even in the midst of this world’s soul-destroying corruption, He could live that perfectly holy life necessary to satisfy the law.  Then, having dwelled here in perfect God-pleasing holiness, Jesus gave His life into death to satisfy the law’s demand for justice.  Through all of this, the devil schemed and tempted and persuaded people just as God knew that liar would. 

For a being who wanted to wrest God’s kingdom from Him, the devil really isn’t that smart.  Even after God gave the world clear prophetic messages of all He planned for His Son, the devil never caught on that God was weaving the deceiver’s demise.  Thus, in the end, Satan probably did gloat in foolish glee when God’s Son was nailed to the cursed tree.  Yet, as the Gospel so clearly teaches, the devil wasn’t winning.  Rather, through the death of His Son, God was taking back the wealth of the world by paying the ransom to set His people free.

Now, ordinarily, we think of a ransom being paid to the kidnapper.  But remember what the prophet Nahum reported, “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God.” (Nahum 1:2)  St. Paul later wrote, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)  Even more so for Jesus; Jesus didn’t enter our world to do battle with Roman authority or even those Jewish leaders who so despised God’s Son.  Instead, Jesus came to battle our old evil foe, and the payment Jesus made didn’t go into the devil’s treasury.  Instead, Jesus paid with His blood and His life to satisfy the justice His Father demanded for our sins.  Satan gets nothing but eternal loss.

Though the devil speaks only lies, Jesus operates solely with perfect truth.  While Satan sought the power of God, Jesus laid aside His glory and “emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant.  When he was born in human likeness, and his appearance was like that of any other man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:7-8)  Jesus told the crowds that followed Him, “This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.  I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again.” (John 10:17-18) 

It is in His humility and sacrifice that Jesus disarmed our kidnapper.  Caught completely unaware (or perhaps not), the devil had no ability or strength to defeat Jesus.  There was no accusation of sin that would apply to Jesus.  There was no desire or distrust that the devil could chip away at to deceive Jesus into turning against His Father’s will.  Therefore, holy and righteous and with God’s full stamp of approval, Jesus took the fight to the devil and crushed that serpent’s head.

So, why did Jesus descend to hell alive that Easter morning?  Restored to life, Jesus descended into hell to announce His victory over Satan with authority and power so that the devil has no more hold over any of God’s people.  The devil and his wicked horde will never again be able to accuse God’s children of sin.  In his great triumph hymn, Martin Luther proclaimed, “This world’s prince may still, scowl fierce as he will, he can harm us none, he’s judged; the deed is done; one little word can fell him.”  When Jesus sent out the seventy-two disciples proclaiming His Gospel message of forgiveness and salvation through faith in Christ, they returned rejoicing for the power of His Word, and Jesus told them, “I was watching Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:18)

Through treachery and deception, the serpent had turned God’s people against their Creator.  Enslaved by the lies and temptations, people the world over had no resistance to the devil’s evil.  But now, a stronger Man has taken on the kidnapper and thrown off the chains that kept us bound in the dark cave of the sinful nature.  Jesus told His disciples, “I am the Light of the World.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

As the Lord led Israel out of slavery in Egypt, He rescued His people from the wicked horde by leading them to safety through the waters of the sea.  This too is a picture of how Jesus has rescued us through the waters of Baptism.  With the water and the Word of our Lord in Baptism, we are led cleansed and free into the kingdom of peace and joy that is God’s everlasting kingdom. 

Is there still trouble in our lives and temptations around us?  Certainly.  For as long as this world lasts, those things will be troubling mankind because of the curse of sin.  However, because God’s Strong-Man takes possession of His people, we are never in this battle alone.  Our Champion continues to fight for us with the power of His Word and His intercession with our Father in heaven.  No more can the devil accuse us before God.  Nor do we ever have to fight that liar alone, for Jesus promises “Surely I am with you always until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)  Then through His psalmist, our Redeemer assures us, “If you make the Most High your shelter, evil will not overtake you.  Disaster will not come near your tent.  Because he will give a command to his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.” (Psalm 91:9-11)

Dear friends, whenever you confess your faith in the words of the Apostle’s Creed, or whenever you might feel weak or worried, remember that through His life, death, descent into hell, and resurrection from the grave, Jesus, God’s Strong-Man, took possession of His people.  Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Our Lord; was crucified, died, and was buried.

 

Sermon for Good Friday, April 3, 2026

Grace and mercy to you from the One Who was despised and rejected by men, a man who knew grief, who was well acquainted with suffering.  Amen.

John 19:33-42  ³³But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.  ³⁴Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear.  Immediately blood and water came out.  ³⁵The one who saw it has testified, and his testimony is true.  He knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.  ³⁶Indeed, these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, “Not one of his bones will be broken.”  ³⁷Again another Scripture says, “They will look at the one they pierced.”  ³⁸After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him remove Jesus’ body.  When Pilate gave him permission, he came and took Jesus’ body away.  ³⁹Nicodemus, who earlier had come to Jesus at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-two pounds.  ⁴⁰They took Jesus’ body and bound it with linen strips along with the spices, in accord with Jewish burial customs.  ⁴¹There was a garden at the place where Jesus was crucified.  And in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.  ⁴²So they laid Jesus there, because it was the Jewish Preparation Day, and the tomb was near. (EHV)

Our Lord; was crucified, died, and was buried. 

            Jesus once told His enemies, “How can someone enter a strong man’s house and take his goods, unless he first ties up the strong man?  Only then can he plunder his house.” (Matthew 12:29)  As we remember Jesus’ suffering and death, it certainly appears that a strong thief bound Jesus and made a mockery of that dear Son of God.  To the world, it looked like sin, death, and the devil had finally accomplished the impossible and destroyed the Messiah. 

Yet, as most people will admit, looks can be, and often are, deceiving.  Therefore, while the Jewish leadership cautiously began to celebrate Jesus’ death, and Pontious Pilate assumed he had squashed a rebellion, the reality was far different.  Indeed, Pilate couldn’t put down a rebellion because the only rebellion that put Jesus on that cross was the devil’s rebellion against God that began in the Garden of Eden.  In addition, while the Jews plotted to prove that Jesus was truly dead (which is something we all readily admit), the death of God’s Son wasn’t the end of the story.  Rather, it was exactly why Jesus came into the world.

The devil had failed to get Jesus to sin.  Satan had failed to persuade Jesus to turn aside from His goal of bearing our sins unto death.  We can even say the devil failed to trick his allies into upending God’s plan, for God’s plan all along was that Christ’s real victory would come only when Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord; … was crucified, died, and was buried.

When Jesus was nailed to that cross, we can imagine the devil celebrating a potential conquest, but for Satan, this crucifixion was a trap.  The devil along with his unbelieving allies in the world considered Jesus the enemy they wanted to destroy.  However, it is in Jesus’ death that Satan’s power is forever crushed.  The writer to the Hebrews testifies, “Therefore, since the children share flesh and blood, he also shared the same flesh and blood, so that through death he could destroy the one who had the power of death (that is, the Devil) and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:14-15)  Thus, when we see Jesus on the cross, it is neither a tragedy nor defeat, but the culmination of God’s rescue plan that set us free from the devil’s deceptions. 

Throughout Jesus’ approximately thirty-three years on earth, He was living as a Man for you and me.  Throughout those years, Jesus resisted all temptation, obeyed every law, did perfectly whatever His Father in heaven willed, and never once failed to do what is right and good.  That perfection was lived so that you and I could be credited with righteousness, a righteousness not of our own but that which Jesus lived for us.  Certainly, the devil tried his best to turn this effort of our Savior aside.  However, unlike the first Adam in the Garden of Eden, the second Adam would not be denied in doing the will of His Father in heaven.

Therefore, innocent of all sin, Jesus was crucified not for His own guilt, but for ours.  Consequently, while the devil and the world mocked and jeered God’s Son, Jesus’ death was paying for our sin and crushing any ability or right the devil had to accuse us of sin.  Forever after, the devil is silenced before God.  In the Garden, God had promised the Deceiver, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.  He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)  When Jesus declared, “It is finished,” God’s promise was now fulfilled.  Yes, Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, but the devil lost the war in his rebellion against our Creator.

In his great Easter hymn, Paul Gerhardt wrote, “The foe in triumph shouted when Christ lay in the tomb; but, lo, he now is routed, his boast is turned to gloom.”  It is possible that when Jesus was laid to rest in the tomb, the devil may not yet have admitted what Jesus had accomplished in death, but by His death, Jesus took away our condemnation.  Therefore, the devil can no longer control those Jesus has won to His Father’s kingdom by faith.  Satan can no longer accuse anyone before God.  St. Paul was moved by the Holy Spirit to write:

Even when you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ by forgiving us all our trespasses.  God erased the record of our debt brought against us by his legal demands.  This record stood against us, but he took it away by nailing it to the cross.  After disarming the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them by triumphing over them in Christ. (Colossians 2:13-15)

The words of the prophet Isaiah assure us that Jesus’ victory over sin, Satan, and death was never in doubt.  Seven hundred years before this crucifixion, Isaiah wrote: “The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)  And, “Because you made his life a guilt offering, he will see offspring.  He will prolong his days, and the Lord’s gracious plan will succeed in his hand.  After his soul experiences anguish, he will see the light of life.  He will provide satisfaction.  Through their knowledge of him, my just servant will justify the many, for he himself carried their guilt.” (Isaiah 53:10-11)

Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord; … was crucified, died, and was buried.  What does this mean for you and me today?  It means that no devil, or any other being, can ever again accuse God’s children of sin.  It means that because this isn’t the end of the salvation plan but the height of Jesus’ conquest of God’s enemies, therefore, you and I will not die but live.  Though our bodies may likewise have to be laid down in the grave, like Jesus, our Easter resurrection will also soon be at hand, for though Jesus truly died, He yet lives and reigns from His Father’s side in the throne room of heaven.  Thus, by His death and resurrection, Jesus has turned our death into the entrance to Paradise.  You see, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For in Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2)

So, who is Jesus?  The explanation of the Second Article of the Apostle’s Creed reminds us: “He is my Lord, Who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.”  In the ultimate victory over evil, to be proclaimed with power on the third day, Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord; … was crucified, died, and was buried.  Amen.

Glory be to God alone, He himself carried the sin of many, and he intercedes for the rebels.  Amen.

Christ gives His body and blood for you.

 

Sermon for Maundy Thursday, April 2, 2026

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Matthew 26:26-29  ²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples.  He said, “Take, eat, this is my body.”  ²⁷Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it all of you, ²⁸for this is my blood of the new testament, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  ²⁹I tell you that I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. (EHV)

Christ gives His body and blood for you.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

            We have been preparing for this night for the past six weeks, but what have we been doing to prepare?  To be honest, perhaps not much.  Some may have given up some treat or activity for Lent.  Many of us have attended midweek services in which we heard about the last few days and hours of Jesus’ passion.  On the other hand, I pray that you have spent these six weeks of Lenten preparation considering your guilt and need for a Savior, and therefore, have spent these six weeks, as we should always, in repentance so that you are ready to receive the forgiveness of our Lord.

For about three years, Jesus had been preparing His disciples for this night, preaching the Good News of the Messiah entering our world, healing the sick, performing miracle after miracle that showed His divine power, calling sinners to repentance, and announcing in advance what He was prepared to do as Christ gives His body and blood for you.

As part of our ongoing review of our catechism, this evening we look at the list of questions Luther recommended before partaking of the body and blood of God’s Son.  I encourage you to open your hymnal now to that list on pages 38-39.  Luther gave us 20 questions to consider as we prepare for the Lord’s Supper.  Most likely, when you were in confirmation class, your pastor encouraged you to use this list every time you were coming to the altar of our Lord for this meal.  If you are like me, however, you’ve likely grown a bit lackadaisical about doing that review.  This evening, permit me to review with you just the first nine questions, all very short, and I pray these are your answers:

1.    Do you believe you are a sinner?  Yes, I believe it; I am a sinner.

2.    How do you know this?  From the Ten Commandments, which I have not kept.

3.    Are you sorry for your sins?  Yes, I am sorry that I have sinned against God.

4.    What have you deserved from God by your sins?  His wrath and displeasure, temporal death and eternal damnation. (Romans 6:21 & 23)

5.    Do you also hope to be saved?  Yes, such is my hope.

6.    In whom, then, do you trust?  In my dear Lord Jesus Christ.

7.    Who is Christ?  The Son of God, true God and man.

8.    How many Gods are there?  Only one; but there are three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

9.    What, then, has Christ done for you that you trust in Him?  He died for me and shed His blood for me on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.

The questions that follow on Luther’s list are not less important, and I encourage you to give them your attention going forward, but for tonight, this is the highlight I want to focus on, that Christ gives His body and blood for you.

As we reviewed these questions, what did we offer to God to induce Him to sacrifice His Son so that we might have forgiveness and life?  The true answer is that we did nothing, except the sin that Jesus died to pay for.  From the very beginning, God rightly commanded our obedience, and almost from the very beginning mankind has been sinning against our Creator and God.  You and I were no different.  King David recognized that from the moment of conception we are inclined to sin.  In fact, David understood that because our first parents rebelled against God, their sin-infected nature has been passed down to each and every one of us, with the result that as we are formed in our mothers’ wombs, we have no trust in God or what He has done for us.

In the confession of sin inserted in this list of questions, we said we are sorry for our sins, but being sorry doesn’t pay the price our guilt required.  The law demands perfection, and justice demands death for sin.  As sinners, we deserved God’s wrath and everlasting exile in the punishment of hell.  At the same time, what kind of God would subject His children to such a fate?  Well, the answer to that question is a God who is both perfectly holy and perfectly just.  His holiness demands that we must be righteous and without any sin to be in a relationship with Him.  God’s justice requires that the consequence of breaking the law must be carried out.  There can be no exceptions, or God would be neither holy nor just.

Sometimes, people ask, why does God allow so much death in our world?  In truth, it is because of sin that death comes to all people, and whether that is when they are young or old, it is not because God is indifferent.  Rather, God wants to save us from the curse of sin.  Now, you and I couldn’t purchase release from the death sentence we deserve.  We owed that debt to God for our guilt.  Yet, the only way we could pay the debt would be to spend eternity in hell’s prison. 

Still, our God desired a relationship with mankind.  This was God’s whole purpose in creating this world.  And, as the apostle declared, “God is love.” (1 John 4:16)  Therefore, because our Lord Jesus is the embodiment of God’s love, He put Himself in our place on that cross.  God sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice that allows Him to punish our guilt at the same time that He declares us justly innocent of all charges.

Now, since the time God rescued Israel out of Egypt, He had commanded the sacrifice of a lamb in remembrance of His plan of salvation.  The night of the last plague on Egypt, God commanded that the blood of the lamb be painted on the doorposts and lintels of Israel so that as He was wreaking vengeance on Egypt for rejecting Him, the Lord would pass over those houses, and the people inside were spared from death.  God commanded that Passover sacrifice be repeated annually until the final sacrifice it foreshadowed would be accomplished.  God wanted all people to know and remember that the sacrifice of His Lamb would finally set them free from slavery and death.

Therefore, it is in this His last Passover celebration that Jesus gives us a new covenant.  The old covenant painted a picture of what Jesus was doing for us, but now, the real event was at hand.  Thus, “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples.  He said, ‘Take, eat, this is my body.’  Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it all of you, for this is my blood of the new testament, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’”  Just as those sacrificial lambs fed the people of Israel repeatedly for all those many years, so now, as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus gives us His own body and blood: His body to nourish our souls for eternity; His blood to paint the doorposts of our hearts marking us as His own chosen people.

In the corrupted reasoning of natural man, the argument is often made that Jesus couldn’t really give us His body and blood for all these years.  Many various reasons are imagined.  Yet, being true God as well as true Man, our Lord does exactly as He promised.  His very blood is in, with, and under the wine; His true flesh is in, with, and under the bread Jesus hands to us at His table.  How can this be?  That we must leave up to our Lord through whom God created the heavens and the earth.  We don’t need to know the how, only what Jesus does, and what Jesus does is promise that in this eating and drinking, we receive again the forgiveness of all our sins.  He promises that as we partake of this holy meal, we again receive peace with His Father in heaven.

So we now know the benefit that is ours through the amazing gift of Jesus’ body and blood given and shed for our sins.  Yet, for whom is it given?  Just those twelve disciples?  Just the Jews descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?  Not hardly, for Jesus boldly proclaimed, “This is my blood of the new testament, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  Therefore, we can be confident that if we are sinners, Jesus offers His blood for us.  If we believe in Jesus as Savior and Redeemed, this body and blood is intended for you and me.  If we repent our sins, this is the remedy for our guilt.  If we are under the curse of sin, but God has brought us into His kingdom of grace through Baptism, and if we have been properly instructed in the Christian faith, this holy meal is medicine and food for eternal salvation.

There is one other question in Luther’s list that I want to mention.  There are times when people don’t think they need the Lord’s Supper.  Sometimes, they feel little or no guilt.  Others occasionally feel so guilty they assume they are unworthy of God’s grace (which, of course, is always true for all people).  Therefore, Luther gives an answer for anyone who doesn’t feel the need or desire to partake of this forgiveness and life.  Question 20 asks, “But what shall a person do if he is not aware of such trouble and feels no hunger and thirst for the Sacrament?” 

To such a person no better advice can be given than that, in the first place, he put his hand into his bosom, and feel whether he still have flesh and blood, and that he by all means believe what the Scriptures say of it in Galatians 5 and Romans 7.  Secondly, that he look around to see whether he is still in the world, and keep in mind that there will be no lack of sin and trouble, as the Scriptures say in John 15 and 16; 1 John 2 and 5.  Thirdly, he will certainly have the devil also about him, who with his lying and murdering day and night will let him have no peace within or without, as the Scriptures picture him in John 8 and 16; 1 Peter 5; Ephesians 6; 2 Timothy 2.

In other words, dear friends, if you are still living in the flesh and blood and believe the truths and promises of the Holy Scriptures, Jesus has the cure for all your sins and guilt, and He offers it to you freely without cost or any service required on your part.  The Son of God, your Savior, has loved you so much that He willingly carried your sins into suffering, shame, death, and hell, so that you can be set free from all guilt and condemnation, so that you might enjoy forgiveness of all sin and life everlasting in heaven.  Now, may all those who walk in fellowship with Jesus and this congregation come forward to receive this great gift of forgiveness and peace as Christ gives His body and blood to you.  Amen.

Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

In equal attitude, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

 

Sermon for Lent 6, Palm Sunday, April 29, 2026

Mercy and peace to all of you who are in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Philippians 2:5-11  ⁵Indeed, let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.  ⁶Though he was by nature God, he did not consider equality with God as a prize to be displayed, ⁷but he emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant.  When he was born in human likeness, and his appearance was like that of any other man, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.  ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (EHV)

In equal attitude, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.  Who could have imagined that this Jesus, riding into Jerusalem to cheers of praise and vast crowds shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”  “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”  “Hosanna in the highest!”, would just a few days later suffer this great indignity which we confess in the Apostles’ Creed?  Who could have imagined that these same cheering people would soon cry out “Crucify Him!”

Yet, if we are being truly honest with ourselves and before God, we would have to see ourselves in that crowd, because we all have been guilty of wanting God to do things for us that maybe don’t align with His plan.  We all have at times questioned whether God really knows what He is doing in this world.  Who among us could claim that we have never had a selfish thought or wished for something to be different than it actually is?  How many of us haven’t wanted life to be a little easier for ourselves, and maybe even harder for some who have offended us in some way?

Paul wrote, “Indeed, let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”  To understand this sentence, we really should refer back to Paul’s words immediately preceding it: “Let each of you look carefully not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4)  Just as Jesus told His disciples, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)  Thus, the command of the Holy Spirit, here, is that we live in the same unselfish attitude that drove our Savior, and if we do this faithfully, we will In equal attitude, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

If we compare the scene on Palm Sunday to any political campaign in our times, how many candidates for office would enter a town to such cheers and celebration but be thinking only of those people who need his service?  I suspect that the answer could only be none.  Every person who has ever lived has been infected with the desire for self-promotion, self-enrichment, or at least, for self-preservation.

Indeed, the natural mind cannot comprehend a Man like Jesus.  The prophet, Isaiah, confessed, “From ancient times no one has heard.  No ear has understood.  No eye has seen any god except you, who goes into action for the one who waits for him.” (Isaiah 64:4)  There is only One like Jesus, being both true God as well as true Man.  There is only One Man who walked this earth only so that you and I might be forgiven of all sin and live rather than suffer eternal punishment in hell.  There is truly only one Man who lived His complete life doing perfectly holy things only so that we could be counted righteous before God.  I challenge anyone to name any other person like Jesus.  Yet, that is our instruction, also, so what must we do?

Rather than immediately answer my question, consider how Paul continued.  Speaking about Jesus, he wrote: Though he was by nature God, he did not consider equality with God as a prize to be displayed, but he emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant.  When he was born in human likeness, and his appearance was like that of any other man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.”  In reality, Jesus is God from all eternity, begotten of the Father and the source and conduit of all creation.  Jesus truly owns the universe and everything in it, even those people who mock and jeer Him. 

By right, Jesus could do as He wished with the world.  In fact, God sent the prophet, Jeremiah, to observe a potter making his clay pots and when the pot didn’t turn out the way he wished, the potter would mash the clay and start over making something new.  Our Lord could have done that with the world and everything in it after sin corrupted all things.  However, God chose instead to make us new through His Son.  Therefore, Jesus made Himself equal to us in every way except without sin.  At the same time, not content with becoming like us, “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)  Counted as sin to God in our place, Jesus was delivered to the punishment and death we all deserved.

Now, taking the attitude of Christ doesn’t mean that we all have to suffer and die for the sins of others.  Jesus’ sacrifice was a once and done, sufficient for all time and all people, sacrifice.  The writer to the Hebrews said, “By this will, we have been sanctified once and for all, through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ.” (Hebrews 10:10)  It was God’s will that his Son would bear the cost for the sins of mankind.  It was not disgust for His Son that moved God, but rather love for us who are unlovable that motivated the Father and Son to make this great exchange of sin for righteousness.  At no cost to any of us, God transferred our guilt to Jesus and Jesus’ righteousness to those who believe in Him.

There is a bit more to know here.  In consideration of what Jesus has done for us, “Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  This is God’s glory—His mercy granted to us through the love and sacrifice of His Son.  And in the end, every knee will bow in humble submission before Christ.  Those who have loved and believed in Jesus will bow before Him in gratitude and praise for eternal salvation granted freely through the blood of Jesus. 

On the other hand, those who have not believed in Jesus will finally know the truth.  They will never again be able to reject Jesus as God and Lord, for when St. John received a vision directly from Jesus after His ascension to heaven, he reported “Look, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him.” (Revelation 1:7)  Jesus, Himself, quoted the prophet, Hosea, to warn, “Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’” (Luke 23:30) 

Judgment Day for the unbeliever will be a horrible experience leading to an eternal separation from God in the place prepared for the devil and his angels.  There will never be an escape from that eternal prison, nor any slight relief from the everlasting torment of separation from God’s kindness, as well as finally knowing that Jesus died even for those who rejected Him, but refusal to believe in Him cost them everything good.

So where does that leave us?  Our text convinces us that we should In equal attitude, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  That is our work as Christian believers, to live our lives in service to our neighbor by setting aside selfish desires in order to help others hear the Good News of all Jesus has done for us.  That means that we will bring up our children “in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)  It means that our concern will not be just for material gains but for what we can do to help our neighbor both in earthly things but especially in the hearing of the Gospel. 

Like the Good Samaritan, this unselfish attitude displayed on our behalf by our Savior will motivate hearts to be willing to help even when danger or inconvenience might militate against a willing spirit.  In fact, in many ways, it is not our decision or the strength of our faith that will accomplish the good works, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Dear friends, throughout the various epistles, there is much instruction about how we should live in the Christian faith, and it can feel like we often fall short of what we should be doing.  When it comes down to the truth, we know and confess that nothing good has its source in us.  It is the Father’s love that motivates us the same way it motivated Jesus to give Himself for the sinners of the world. 

We know and confess that it is by grace that the Word of God has reached our ears, and the waters of Baptism have flowed over us and cleansed our souls of all guilt.  We confess and know that it is Jesus’ love that flows through those the Spirit has claimed as children of God.  We, likewise, know and confess that our Lord Jesus has lived for us the perfect righteousness that only He can give.  We know and confess that in Jesus we have peace and rest for our souls so that we don’t have to merit the righteousness of God, for it is God’s gift to those under the care of His Son.

At the same time, knowing what Jesus has done for us, what joy is ours that we may devote our lives to living for Him, as the prophet exclaimed, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of a herald, who proclaims peace and preaches good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God is king!’” (Isaiah 52:7)  When we examine this text from the letter to the Philippians, what it comes down to is love, the unselfish kind of love that puts the needs of others ahead of our own.  The apostle, John, wrote, “This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)  Therefore, to friend and foe alike, it is in the love of God for us that we In equal attitude, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  Amen.

May the LORD our God be with us, just as he was with our fathers.  May he never leave us or abandon us.  May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways.  Amen.

Christ mediated a new covenant with His own precious blood.

 

Sermon for Judica, Lent 5, March 22, 2026

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.  

Hebrews 9:15-22  ¹⁵For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant.  A death took place as payment for the trespasses committed under the first covenant, so that those who are called would receive the promised eternal inheritance.  ¹⁶For where a will exists, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made the will.  ¹⁷For a will takes effect at the time of death, since it is never in force when the one who made the will is still living.  ¹⁸For this reason, the first covenant was not ratified without blood.  ¹⁹Indeed, after every command was spoken by Moses to all the people, in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water and scarlet wool and a hyssop branch, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people.  ²⁰He said, “This is the blood of the covenant that God established for you.”  ²¹In the same way he sprinkled blood on the tent and all the objects for worship.  ²²And nearly everything is cleansed with blood according to the law.  And, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. (EHV)

Christ mediated a new covenant with His own precious blood.

Dear friends in Christ,

            In our modern culture, most of us would likely be a little too squeamish to seal a contract with the blood of a sacrifice.  Yet, in the times the writer refers to here, God chose the sacrifice of animals to be the seal of His promise of forgiveness and salvation.  God used that system for a two-fold purpose.  First, it showed the deadly consequence of our rift with God, and second, it pointed the people forward to the sacrifice God would make to reconcile Himself with the human race.

In the Mosaic covenant with which the Hebrews were experienced, the sacrificial death of an animal was required to receive forgiveness and peace with God.  That old covenant was still a covenant of grace, but it showed very graphically that sin resulted in death.  Naturally, that should have surprised no one, since essentially every person who ever lived eventually died which fulfills God’s warning to Adam and Eve that if they broke their covenant with God and ate of the forbidden fruit, they would die.  Yet, a new covenant was needed because the first was symbolic of the sacrifice God was making to cover our sin.

A new covenant was necessary because the old covenant didn’t really atone for sin; rather, it was pointing forward to the one death that would indeed reconcile us with God.  You see, because it was man’s sin that required the consequence of death, the sacrificed animals could only picture the final sacrifice.  To truly reconcile people who are under the curse of sin with the righteous God who loves mankind, a Man had to die.  Furthermore, because all of us ordinary people deserved death for our own sins, our deaths couldn’t reconcile us with our Creator.  However, Jesus, being both true God as well as true Man and perfectly holy and righteous, could bear the sins of the world in our place.  It is for this purpose that Christ mediated a new covenant with His own precious blood.

In the explanation of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed, we each confess that Christ “has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.”  This is precisely what the writer is telling his fellow Hebrews in this text.  Speaking about Jesus, he wrote, “He is the mediator of a new covenant.  A death took place as payment for the trespasses committed under the first covenant, so that those who are called would receive the promised eternal inheritance.”  The old covenant included the commands to obey God perfectly.  No ordinary human was able to meet that requirement.  Therefore, we all deserved death.

However, Jesus’ death was no ordinary death, just as Jesus was no ordinary human.  Still, I need to qualify that statement, because Jesus assumed the human flesh into the divine.  He is therefore completely human, exactly like us but without sin.  At the same time, He is completely God so His life has infinitely greater value than ours.  Because He had no sin, Jesus didn’t deserve to die.  However, in God’s eternal wisdom and economy, the sins of the world are counted to Jesus so that when He went to that cross of suffering and shame, He was doing so without having committed any infractions, but out of love for us, He was taking on Himself the judgment we deserved for all our sins.

This is why Jesus wasn’t just spouting a platitude when He said, “No one has greater love than this: that someone lays down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)  Justice couldn’t require Jesus to die.  As God’s Son who was and is perfectly obedient to His Father’s will, Jesus dwelled in heaven in absolute righteousness and peace.  Still, His love for you and me brought Jesus to earth to be the Mediator, the One and Only God-Man who could restore harmony between God and mankind.  This was the will and covenant God had written throughout the Old Testament.  So much of that history showed how great a need we have for this new covenant.

However, as the writer here says, a will and testament only becomes valid when the testator, the person writing the will, dies.  This example from daily life fits well with God’s will to save sinners.  The demands of the law require death for sin.  God would not and could not accept anything less than perfect righteousness in His presence.  Therefore, the only way we might enter heaven is if God provides the way.

The writer also explains how throughout Israel’s history, God commanded that blood be used to sanctify, that is to cleanse from impurity, all things associated with His honor and worship.  The apostle wrote, “Indeed, after every command was spoken by Moses to all the people, in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water and scarlet wool and a hyssop branch, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people.”  Time and again for centuries these rituals were repeated in their worship practices.  Why?  Because God wanted the people to see that only the blood of His Son could cover their sins for good.

When the original covenant was given, Moses told the people, “This is the blood of the covenant that God established for you.”  The writer further reminded his listeners that, “In the same way he sprinkled blood on the tent and all the objects for worship.  And nearly everything is cleansed with blood according to the law.”  Therefore, we can rightly conclude along with the writer of this letter, “And, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.”  Without Christ on the cross, no one can be forgiven.

All of this pointed to God’s plan which would be completed by His Son, Jesus.  Now, in our times, the world may scoff at all this blood and death and mediation talk.  Many around us wouldn’t give it a second thought.  Yet, it is unmistakenly true that each and every person living, now or yet in the future, will meet the Lord face to face at some point.  There is a Judgment Day coming for everyone, whether that be when the body dies, or if it should be when Jesus returns in glory to judge the world.  Neither of these things is negotiable.  You cannot buy your way into heaven or out of hell, either by works, or wishes, or wealth.  There is only one way to enjoy peace with God and that is through faith in Jesus, just as He declared to His disciples, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6)

That is why this letter is such good news, not just to the Jews of the first century A.D.  It is good news for us as well.  Christ mediated a new covenant with His own precious blood.  Many of the Jews to whom this letter was written were beginning to go back to the old ways.  Perhaps it was at the urging of friends or family who hadn’t yet believed in Jesus.  Likely, persecution from staunch Pharisees or the old guard of temple priests, or even from the Roman government was tempting those early converts to Christianity to go back to the old ways.  The world is always against those who follow Jesus, because the world is led by the deceiver who has hated us since the beginning.

You and I are not immune from these temptations.  In fact, Jesus promised they would come.  He foretold that in the end times, there would be many false prophets and teachers who mislead people into trusting their own ideas or simply letting the natural desires of their sinful flesh rule their lives and actions.  History is full of the evil of man misleading or abusing other people. 

Today, many people think times are getting worse, but there were also many other times in the last nineteen hundred years when opposition to Christ seemed to rule.  As Jesus was led to the cross and the women were weeping and wailing, Jesus quoted the prophet, Hosea, as He warned, “Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’  For if they do these things to the green wood, what will happen to the dry?” (Luke 23:30-31)

Still, if despair because of all the evil in the world should ever overtake you, remember that these troubles will not last.  Indeed, Jesus declared, “If those days were not shortened, nobody would be saved.  But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:22)  The elect are all those people who have been brought into trust in Jesus as Savior, Redeemer, and Lord through the work of the Holy Spirit in the proclamation of the Gospel and the Sacrament of Baptism. Thus, the elect are those of us who have heard the Good News of all Jesus did to take away our sins and pay for our guilt with His own shed blood and by God’s grace have believed in Him.

No matter our physical age, our times in this troubled world will soon end.  That may seem like bad news when first heard, but our Lord’s plan is always to take His people out of this troubled world into the glory and peace of heaven.  There, we will never again have any torment, sorrow, sin, or death.  There, the devil has no influence on anyone or anything.  There, you and I will be blessed to enjoy everlasting peace with God, because Christ paid our debt of sin with His blood, and because we have been chosen by God to hear and believe in Jesus, His righteousness now covers us with holiness. 

Dear friends, “See the kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)  Because we have been claimed by faith to be sons of God, Christ mediated a new covenant between us and God with His own precious blood.  Amen.

The Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.  Amen.

Receive, from the Father’s Son, the Bread of life.

 

Sermon for Laetare, Lent 4, March 15, 2026

Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

John 6:41-47  ⁴¹So the Jews started grumbling about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”  ⁴²They asked, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  So how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”  ⁴³Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves.  ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.  And I will raise him up on the Last Day.  ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’  Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.  ⁴⁶I am not saying that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God.  He is the one who has seen the Father.  ⁴⁷Amen, Amen, I tell you: The one who believes in me has eternal life.” (EHV)

Receive, from the Father’s Son, the Bread of life.

Dear beloved in Christ Jesus, our Lord,

            It seems incredible to me, but for some reason, the world has always had a hard time understanding who Jesus is.  Even as a twelve-year-old boy at the temple, the teachers were dumbfounded that Jesus could have such understanding, while He always appeared to be an ordinary boy and later an ordinary Man.  Still, having been taught by the words of Scripture for the last two thousand plus years, how can anyone today not recognize Jesus?  Still, many do not.

This morning, we will take a look at a portion of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed.  The Christian Church has confessed Jesus’ nature ever since He ascended to heaven.  Of course, God the Father has been testifying to Jesus’ nature from the very beginning through the work of the Holy Spirit in recording the written Word of God.

As we confessed a few moments ago, we believe “in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.”  That seems very straight forward, but perhaps Luther’s explanation will help those who may be confused; he wrote, “I believe that Jesus Christ is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary; and that He is my Lord.” 

Here, we come to the crux of the matter.  These blunt statements seem like an impossible contradiction to the intellect of the person broken by sin, and since we were all broken by sin through our inherited nature, it is impossible to understand these truths except by faith.  Therefore, I bring you another seemingly impossible message: Receive, from the Father’s Son, the Bread of life.

To the natural mind, if Jesus is God then He cannot be human and certainly not bread.  Furthermore, if Jesus is a man, then how could He be true God?  Likewise, how could a baby be born of a virgin?  All this is completely outside of our human experience.  Therefore, the Spirit of God conceiving a Son in a virgin seems like mythology, so natural man rejects it, unless of course, he imagines something equally incredible himself.

In our text, the crowds react with disbelief because Jesus had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”  The Jewish people reacted in much the same way that modern man does, arguing through human logic that Jesus’ statement is impossible.  They knew Jesus’ earthly parents, Mary and Joseph.  They knew without any doubt how babies come into existence.  How could Jesus say something so preposterous?  Later, when Jesus had the audacity to teach that to be saved they must consume His body and blood, many if not most of those people turned against Him saying, “This is a hard teaching!  Who can listen to it?” (John 6:60)  And, they walked away.

We can resolve the difficulty in understanding Jesus’ words when we realize that He is not speaking about the Lord’s Supper He would institute the night He was betrayed.  Jesus is speaking, here, about Himself as the Word of God.  To help us understand, St. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)

From the very beginning of the Book, the Bible tells us that the world and everything in it came into existence as God spoke.  His word has the power to create and to destroy.  St. John tells us about the saving power of God’s spoken Word when he writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him everything was made, and without him not one thing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.” (John 1:1-4)  Thus, Jesus is the food that gives life to the soul.

This world exists because God’s spoken Word has the power to create and sustain it.  You and I exist because God spoke into existence the elements that make up our bodies and He then formed us into special beings into which He breathed the breath of life.  It isn’t so hard to understand once we are willing to believe that our God truly is God.  The trouble for most people is that it doesn’t line up with what the sinful mind accepts.  Everything about God, His being, His power, His outside of this world nature, His mercy, forgiveness, and kindness is outside of the realm of human comprehension, so our salvation is understood only through the power of God working faith in us.

This is why when the people were complaining about His teachings Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves.  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.  And I will raise him up on the Last Day.”  The Jews claimed to have the faith that saved Abraham, but they were being misled by teachers who insisted salvation must be earned.  Many of those teachers didn’t even believe in angels or life after death.  As you can imagine, the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees were not pleased when Jesus told the crowds, “Every plant which my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.  Let them go.  They are blind guides of the blind.  And if the blind are guiding the blind, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:13-14)  The teachers of Israel had become a people led by their faulty intellect.  Yet, forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation cannot be earned, invented, nor come by our decision, because “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” (Psalm 3:8)

Consequently, every doubt or fear we might have about God or our salvation is, of course, sin.  Furthermore, almost all of us are troubled by these things at times.  The Christian faith doesn’t always make sense in the sinner’s mind, and there is opposition all around us, both from people in the world and the forces of evil that seem to rule the world.  Our own flesh cries against us, because we don’t want someone else having power or control over us.  What the sinner, by nature, fails to understand is that we are either under the devil’s control, or God has wrested us away from that deceiver by the power of His Word.  That is the only way anyone is saved.  Therefore, when we are brought to faith in Jesus, He has become our Lord to whom we owe our lives, for He rescued us from Satan’s chains.

Now, therefore, hear Jesus as He tells the crowds and the world, “It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’  Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.”  For thousands of years, God has been telling the world about His love, and the way He would show that love through sending His Son to be the sacrifice that would reconcile the world with God.  For fifteen hundred years God sent prophets to the people to tell them about the coming salvation. 

Actually, God was telling that Good News right from the beginning.  He spoke the story of salvation to Adam and Eve.  God showed the world His saving might as He rescued Noah from the judgment flood.  Again, God demonstrated to the world that He would save His people as He rescued Abraham’s descendants from their slavery in Egypt.  Time and again through Word and action, the Father told the world about Jesus.  Still, it all seemed so mysterious until Jesus made everything clear.

Therefore, it is now given to us to enjoy forgiveness and everlasting life, because the Holy Spirit has caused us to Receive, from the Father’s Son, the Bread of life.  Jesus told the crowd that day, “I am not saying that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God.  He is the one who has seen the Father.  Amen, Amen, I tell you: The one who believes in me has eternal life.”  This is simple enough for anyone to understand; whoever believes in Jesus Christ, that is whoever believes that Jesus is the Son of God who came into the world to redeem us from the curse of sin and the devil’s control will receive forgiveness of all sin, reconciliation with the Father, and life everlasting in heaven.

Jesus told the Samaritan women at the well, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)  God is Spirit, so we can’t find Him in the created world.  We can’t discover His secrets by human ingenuity or exploration.  The only way for us to be reconciled with God and be saved from our sins and the condemnation we deserved is if God reveals Himself to us, and He does that in the power of the Holy Spirit through His Word, through His Son, Jesus, for “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and all things hold together in him.” (Colossians 1:15-17)

For us today, Jesus remains that saving food that enlivens us to live forever.  He feeds our souls so that by His holy Word we believe in Him as our Savior from sin, Satan, and death.  We consume the Bread of Jesus through the hearing of the Word of God and its Good News for us in Word and Sacrament.  Having heard and believed the message Jesus brings, we are no longer children of darkness, for in Him we have the Light and Bread and the sure Hope of life everlasting.  Today and always, dear friends, Receive, from the Father’s Son, the Bread of life.  Amen.

Amen.  Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and might belong to our God forever and ever.  Amen.